I have a creek bottom on my property in the woods its a very small stream with a 15-20 ft of incline on both sides it stretches from the top crop field to a bottom crop field and,have never hunted off the creek side this property is full of deer and I'm wondering if anyone else hunts a similar scenario and how it works with you for deer movement. I uploaded a picture of the property and the ravine/creek is the orange line above the,cross hair moving through the woods
I hunt a VERY similar scenario, because I hunt up the hill side a little bit and still try to get to 20+ feet in a tree you have to pay attention to your angles more than usual, I missed a deer because of this extreme angle. The movement is good but one thing I find interesting is in medium to high wind the movement totally shuts down, no clue why seems backwards to me. Also scent control is tough because the wind swirls so much
I love hunting a creek bottom. You do have to be aware of thermals though. Your scent can get carried quite a ways down a creek because the flow of the water creates a slight draft. So when placing the stand put it down wind based on common wind patterns for the area if possible. The great thing is that its always wet and you can usually find where deer like to cross. Once you find a heavily used crossing you can setup 20 yards or so off the creek to help avoid those steep angles in some cases.
The big reason deer bed around a creek is because of cover and thermals are pulled down into creeks in the evening. Also like copperhead said, the flow of the creek will pull the thermals with them. This is why deer are near the creek, they can smell the field above for danger before even heading towards them to feed. Creeks beds can be tricky to hunt, but usually can find a way.
Do you find days where you have a rising barometer helps this thermal issue or does it still get pulled down? Sent from my SM-N920P using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
My place is on the Sabine River. I always hunt the wind. Other side of the river is a WMA. Not many people hunt it, wet bottom land. If they do, they push deer my way.
For about 5 years I rifle hunted a creek bottom on our property. 3 creeks kinda run together with a Cane Break in the juncture. Lots of Deer. I went down wind and put a climbing stand up 30 foot. Lots of swirling winds, generally from the West, I set up facing into the wind... Not a prime spot, but I still managed to shoot 5-7 Deer a year. (It was a great spot for me) WHY... It was nasty, wet territory and our club only had two old confirmed rubber boot hunters. Best of all I could almost tell time by the Deer movement. The Deer I shot were all moving somewhere between 0700 and 0730. I also shot two Deer with my Blackhawk .44 mag that were slipping along in the Cane Break. I'm talking about 15 yard shots. You have a great location with Deer that many folks will not hunt. Remember this location.
